Comparisons
by captainbean
Summary: Another awkward date night with Noah is interrupted by a time travel emergency, and Wyatt comes to pick Lucy up. She reflects on the comparisons between the two men. Also features Rufus singing Celine Dion. (Wyatt x Lucy sometime before the end of Season 1 but after Bonnie and Clyde.)


Disclaimer: I own nothing, just purely for fun.

 **Comparisons**

They'd been silent for at least a minute and a half now. Which in the grand scheme of time doesn't sound like that long, but when you're on a sort-of-date with your sort-of-fiancé who you sort-of-know-absolutely-nothing-about... well, that can make that minute and a half seem like a pretty awkward lifetime.

Lucy was sure Noah must be feeling as uncomfortable as she was. He seemed to be concentrating really hard on cutting up his carrots as she sneaked a sideways glance at him. And who could blame the guy? As far as he was concerned, his fiancée had come home one day a completely different person. But Lucy felt she owed him, in some weird way, to at least give it a shot. She had - or at least, some _version_ of her had - agreed to marry the poor guy. Might as well see if there was something there, right? Lucy tried to push away the niggling thoughts (that somehow seemed to speak to her in Wyatt's sarcastic voice) that told her if there was something there she'd have felt it by now. Yet she kept insisting on these banal date nights every once in a while, where they'd awkwardly chat about nothing in particular. Small talk, chit-chat, did it rain today? No? Oh.

She wasn't even really sure why he kept showing up. She felt she owed it to him for screwing up his life, that she should keep this facade up so his feelings weren't totally crushed. These awkward silences kept stretching on and on, getting worse with each date. Lucy guessed he was holding out hope that just as quickly as she'd 'changed', she'd change back again into the Lucy he knew. The trouble was, _that_ Lucy didn't exist... she just didn't know how to break it to him. So on these faux dates went.

At least two minutes of earth-shattering silence had passed now. She had to say something.

"I, um, like... your..." She began, starting to gesticulate in his general direction. Noah looked up expectantly, eyebrows raised, waiting for her to finish. Or admit she was insane. Whichever.

The problem was she hadn't come up with a suitable end to that sentence. Crap.

"Uh..." Lucy continued, a look of blank horror creeping onto her face. She was saved by the trill of her phone. "Oh, thank God." she muttered to herself as she snatched it off the table and saw it was Mason Industries calling her.

"What?" Noah inquired, his eyebrows knitting together.

"Nothing!" Lucy replied too brightly, mortified he'd probably heard her relief at the distraction. "Work. I, uh, I just have to take this." She said, waving her phone too enthusiastically and excluding herself from the table. She wandered over to the kitchen island a little out of earshot.

"Flynn's jumped again. April 1912." Agent Christopher's stern voiced greeted Lucy on the other end of the phone.

"1912... that's the Titanic." Lucy whispered, her back to Noah. "Over 1500 people died. What's Flynn's plan?"

"We have no idea yet. We're looking into particulars right now."

"Ok, I'll be right there," Lucy replied, taking a small glance over her shoulder. Noah wasn't looking at her, shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Good. See you soon." Christopher replied curtly.

"Oh, wait-!" Lucy began, but Christopher had already hung up. "Crap." Lucy muttered, looking at the 'call ended' message on her phone screen.

"Everything ok?" Noah asked politely, turning around. He knew the date was over, and it was another score for the 'why the hell are we still doing this' team.

"Uh, yeah..." Lucy replied, feeling unable to meet his eyes right away. She thought if she could keep pushing, these dates would eventually get better. Noah would grow on her, she'd think he was more than just 'fine', and she could be the fiancée he thought he'd proposed to. His life could go back to 'normal', and she could stop swimming in guilt because she'd miraculously fall in love with him. Oh, and pigs would also fly.

"Work needs me to go in. Emergency." She said with a tight smile, finally meeting his eyes. He looked entirely unsurprised.

Noah sighed. "Ok," he said, with a small sad smile. "I'll clear up. You get going."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it." Lucy took a few steps towards the table and took the plate from him that he was holding. She couldn't make him sit through another painful dinner _and_ let him clear up. "I'll take care of it later. I'll just call a car and leave it for now."

Noah's eyebrows furrowed together. "Why aren't you taking your own car?" he asked.

"It broke down earlier today. I haven't called anyone to get it fixed yet." Lucy offered with a small shrug, taking another plate he'd picked up. This was a small omission of truth – she in fact only had a flat tire, and could actually have changed it herself, but didn't want Noah to offer to fix it for her and extend their discomfort.

"I can take you to work." Noah offered. "It's late. If it's an emergency, you should get there as soon as possible, right?"

"No!" Lucy practically shouted. She should have seen that coming. Noah winced. Oh God, why was he just so _nice?_ He was cute, charming and a completely reasonable choice in mate... and she felt absolutely zip. "It's a secretive project. You know I signed that non-disclosure... We can't have a civilian knowing where the Bat-Cave is. Thanks for the offer though," She tried to salvage the situation with a lame joke and feeble thank you, but she could see the flicker of hurt on his face.

"A cab can't take you either in that case." Noah pointed out. "So what are you going to do? I can stop a mile away and drive with a blindfold if that helps."

Lucy laughed weakly. "Um, no, that's ok. I'll call a friend. A work-friend." She added quickly, as his eyebrows raised a little with a touch of annoyance at the repeated rejection. "By the time work send out a car, it'll take too long, it'll be quicker if I call... my work-friend." Lucy prattled on, slowly backing out of the room. "So... yeah, I'll be right back."

She exited the kitchen and walked down the hallway, lowering herself onto the last few steps of the staircase. She closed her eyes and let out a little sigh of relief at finally being alone. She unlocked her phone again and scrolled until she found Wyatt.

"Hey, are you on your way?" Wyatt answered after two rings. She could hear him slamming the trunk of his car, meaning hopefully she'd just caught him in time.

"Hey Wyatt," Lucy started. "Not exactly. Have you left yet?"

"Is everything ok? You don't sound like yourself." Wyatt had his hand on the driver's side door but had stopped in his tracks at the tense-ness of Lucy's voice. "Lucy?" He asked again, panic starting to creep in. Was she being held at gunpoint? Had Flynn got to her? Was this late-night call-out a ruse to distract them from Lucy's kidnapping? Wyatt's grip tightened on his phone waiting for her to reply.

"I'm fine," Lucy replied, still sounding a little uptight. "Just another less than successful date with Noah." She kept her voice low in case Noah was in listening distance.

Wyatt let out a small sigh of relief that she was safe and closed his eyes briefly. "Don't do that to me, you scared the hell out of me." He chastised, opening his door and climbing into his car.

"What, telling you I had a date?" Lucy replied confusedly.

"No, I thought something was seriously wrong, like you'd been kidnapped and I was your one phone call or something." He sounded stern but Lucy could hear the smile in his voice, making her smile too.

"You think you'd be my one phone call if I was being held captive and I was given a singular lifeline?" Lucy teased.

"What, you'd call Mason? I hate to break it to you, but I'm a little feistier than him." Wyatt laughed.

"Ok, _fine_ , maybe I'd call you if I was in a jam." Lucy relented laughingly. "Speaking of which... could you pick me up on your way into the office? I have a flat tire and I can't exactly call a cab to take me to the Top Secret Time Travel Facility."

"How exactly would that conversation go? 'Any plans tonight, ma'am?' 'Oh, sure, I'm going to time jump back to the Titanic and stop a crazed terrorist from doing a load of messed up shit.' Something like that?" Wyatt chuckled, making Lucy chuckle too.

"I think that's a definite violation of the non-disclosure. So you're the next best option."

"Wow, you sure know how to flatter a guy." Wyatt teased.

"Please? A Mason car will take double the time, and-"

"Lucy, I'm kidding. Of course I will." Wyatt interrupted, gently assuring her.

She couldn't help but smile. She knew she could count on Wyatt. "My hero." she teased right back.

Wyatt chuckled again. "Hey, consider me your knight in shining armor, right?"

Lucy feigned mocking outrage. "Hey, I'm no damsel in distress! Just a gal with a flat tire."

"Apologies ma'am." Wyatt grinned. "I don't think I could pull off armor anyway. I'll stick to the fedoras."

"Much more Indiana Jones?" Lucy questioned.

"Better than James Bond..." Wyatt muttered back to her. "See you in five minutes."

"See you soon. Thanks, Wyatt," she added.

"Anytime, babydoll." Lucy grinned as they hung up. She pulled her coat on and grabbed her bag from the foot of the stairs, before making her way back to the kitchen to let Noah know that her ride would be there imminently.

The kitchen had been tidied when she returned and Noah was leaning against the island waiting for her. "Is your friend on their way?" he enquired.

"Yeah, he'll be here soon." Lucy looked around the immaculate kitchen. "You didn't have to..." She gestured around. "Thank you." She finished feebly.

"No problem." Noah replied. They were quiet for a beat. "Long phone call for asking for a ride to work." he commented.

"Was it?" Lucy tried to sound breezy, knowing she'd said more words to Wyatt in their brief conversation than she had to Noah all evening. And she knew which conversation had come easier too. "We were just talking about... work." She finished lamely.

"Ahh." Noah replied softly. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he was interrupted by the doorbell.

"I'll get that." Lucy replied quickly, leaving the kitchen as fast as she could to avoid the weight of his disappointment.

She opened the door to find Wyatt on her doorstep, his hands in his pockets and a small smile on his face. "You chariot awaits, m'lady."

Lucy smiled back, leaning on the doorframe. "What, did you break like 20 traffic laws to get here in record time?"

"Do you want to criticize my driving or do you want to walk to work?" he faux-grumbled, holding out his arm and gesturing to his car parked in front of the house.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply just as Noah left the kitchen and walked down the kitchen towards her. "Lucy, I-" He stopped short when he saw Wyatt smiling down as Lucy. She spun around, her own smile slipping off her face.

"Noah, hi," She folded her arms, not quite meeting his eyes. "This is Wyatt, my... work-friend." She turned back to Wyatt, who eyes had flicked from Lucy to Noah and back again. "Wyatt, this is... Noah."

"Lucy's fiancé." Noah finished for her, looking at her a little pointedly.

"Yeah, right, that." Lucy muttered, wanting the Earth to swallow her whole.

Wyatt stepped into the house and offered his hand for Noah to shake. "Right. Nice to meet you, man." Wyatt had a tight smile on his face, and their handshake was extremely brief.

"We should go." Lucy said too brightly to Wyatt, touching his arm to begin ushering him out of the house and away from the ever-increasing awkwardness of the situation.

"Sure," Wyatt replied. "Work... stuff." he offered Noah with over-exaggerated politeness.

Lucy hoisted her bag further up her shoulder and shuffled out after the two men. She locked up and started silently down the path, Noah on one side and Wyatt on the other. Well, this was uncomfortable. On her left was Noah, perfectly pleasant, with whom she was trying to salvage _something_ to ease her own guilt and because she felt she owed it to the poor guy. And on her right was Wyatt... Wyatt. Confusing, maybe-we-should-consider-the-possibilities, gentlemanly Wyatt. Hell, he was doing it now - escorting her down the path with his hand absentmindedly on the small of her back because he was so much of a goddamn gentleman. She couldn't ignore all the little moments they seemed to keep having, especially after that impromptu kiss in 1934. Talking to Wyatt seemed so easy, especially in comparison to her seemingly never-ending silent encounters with Noah, whom she couldn't talk to about anything real. But Wyatt was a gentleman, he was just doing his job, and he was a nice guy to boot. They teased each other, comforted each other, and had each other's backs. It didn't _mean_ anything. Did it?

Lucy's mind was warring with itself when they reached the end of the path and came to a stop, Lucy and Wyatt facing Noah, with Wyatt's hand still on the small of her back, waiting to guide her to his car. This didn't escape Noah's notice, his eyes widening slightly when he caught sight of the gesture. Wyatt quickly shoved his hands back in his pockets and rocked back slightly on his heels.

"So... I'll call you." Lucy offered, with a small shrug, holding her bag in front of her body as if shielding her from her sort-of-fiancé.

"Yeah, sure. Good luck with your work emergency." He leaned in gently attempting to kiss her but she turned and offered her cheek in a panic at the last moment. Noah stepped back with a small sigh. "Nice to meet you," he offered half-heartedly to Wyatt with a small wave.

"Yeah, you too." Wyatt replied, his eyes snapping back, having looked anywhere but at Noah and Lucy and their failed attempt at an affectionate goodbye. Noah walked back to his own car, as Lucy and Wyatt began the short stroll to his, his hand instinctively back on the small of her back.

"Well, that was all kinds of fun," he sarcastically whispered to her as he opened her passenger side door for her.

"I thought he'd be gone by the time you got there, Speedy Gonzales!" She hissed back. Lucy rolled her eyes as she got in and waited for him to walk around the car and climb in.

Wyatt put his hands on the steering wheel but didn't start the ignition. "What are you doing Lucy? Cut the poor guy loose."

Lucy looked pained. "I know, I know. I feel like I owe him... _something_ though. Is that crazy?"

Wyatt sighed. "Yeah, actually. We talked about this. You owe him a life of his own. You're not really engaged, remember?"

"I know," Lucy replied, looking down at the ring. She took it off and slipped it in her bag, staring sadly at her lap.

"Look," he reached over and took her hand, forcing her to look up at him. "I know you think you're doing him a favor waiting this thing out. But it's kinder in the long-run to cut him loose. He's engaged to alternate-reality Lucy. Let him find someone in this reality to be with."

Lucy huffed out a puff of air and narrowed her eyes at him in good-natured surrender. "Hmm. I suppose you _might_ make a good point in there somewhere."

He squeezed her hand. "It's almost like you admitted I was right." he teased.

"Never," she quipped, squeezing his hand back and letting the tenseness of her evening melt away now that one of the contenders for World's Worst Date was over.

He grinned at her and finally started the ignition. They drove in comfortable silence for a few moments before Wyatt softly said, "And you know, if Noah is out there having a life of his own, that would leave you open to... explore the possibilities." He shrugged a little, concentrating extremely hard on the road ahead.

Lucy looked over at him, a small smile playing on her lips. "Right. The possibilities." She replied. "That's good advice."

Wyatt smiled to himself, never taking his eyes off the road. Something unspoken passed between them, Lucy didn't even know what... but knowing Wyatt was coming around to exploring the possibilities, whatever they were, was an inviting incentive. She owed it to Noah, and to herself.

"How do you break up with someone who thinks you're engaged?" She mused, more to herself than to Wyatt.

"Tell him your work with time travel and crazy machine stealing criminals is really tough, and you just don't have time to be engaged right now. Then he'll think you're crazy and you'll be off the hook." He smirked over at her and she swatted him on the arm.

"Gee, why didn't _I_ think of that? That'll go down really well." She rolled her eyes at him.

By this time they had parked up, and were making their way into the Mason Industries main building.

"Good, you're both here. Get down to wardrobe and we'll brief you after, time is of the essence with this one." Agent Christopher brushed past them, a thick wad of paper in her hands.

"What's that noise?" Lucy screwed up her face in concentration as they approached the wardrobe department.

"It sounds like a cat being strangled, but I think… yep, a cat being strangled." He pushed open the door and saw Rufus getting changed behind a curtain, obviously thinking he was alone, and belting out Celine Dion.

" _Neeeeeear, faaaaaaar, wheeeerever you arrreee! I BELIEVE that the heart doesss GO ONNNN_!" Rufus yanked open the curtain, his modern-day clothes over his arm, and earphones planted firmly in his ears. His head snapped up when he noticed them both, standing with their arms folded, eyebrows raised and trying not to laugh. "Oh, hey guys… how long have you been standing there?" He looked appropriately shamed to have been caught belting his heart out.

"Long enough." Wyatt laughed. "I didn't realize you were such a fan."

"I'm just excited to be going back to 1912, that's all." Rufus shrugged, head held high and trying to confidently stride past them.

"You know Kate and Leo won't be where we're going, right?" Wyatt called after him.

Lucy laughed, rolling her eyes at the pair of them.

"If he's going to do that for the whole trip, I'm not going." Wyatt joked with Lucy, as a wardrobe guy handed them each a pile of clothes.

Lucy laughed again and pulled the curtain closed behind her as she prepared to get changed. She reflected on her evening with Noah, how she'd felt uncomfortable and uncertain… and then with Wyatt, who she could talk to and laugh with easily.

She thought about Wyatt giving her her own advice, and what that might mean, not just for her but for him as well. She opened the curtains, clad in beautiful 1920s garb… apparently she'd be going back as a member of high society. Wyatt was waiting for her, already changed into a sharp looking suit. Her breath instinctively caught a little.

"Let's do this thing." He gave her a disarming half smile and offered her his arm.

Yes. The possibilities were definitely something she should start considering.

 **\- FIN -**


End file.
